Scenes of Bohemian Life
This book is a new translation of Henry Murger’s influential Scènes de la vie de bohème, first published in French in 1851.
The book recounts the lives of a bohemian group of creative young people as they fall in and out of love, endure cold and hunger, enjoy drunken parties, see their friends suffer and die of poverty, and finally emerge as mature artists. The book's publication soon inspired many (mostly young) people to seek out a bohemian life in Paris and other cities around the world. Not only did it inspire people at the time to change their lives, it also inspired Puccini’s beloved opera La Bohème(1896) and, a hundred years later, Jonathan Larson’s phenomenally successful Rent (1996). Few works of literature have had such a social impact. Bohemian cultures and subcultures have been with us ever since and Murger’s book remains an engaging and satisfying work of literature.
Henry Murger was a nineteenth-century French writer whose Scènes de la vie de bohème launched an idea of bohemian life that has influenced cultures ever since.
Robert Holton, the translator/editor, is Emeritus Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He has taught literature for many years, including courses in bohemian cultures.
